About Us
About Us
Youtz & Valdez, P.C., was formed in 2004, combining the knowledge, skills and dedication of attorneys Shane Youtz and Gabrielle Valdez. Following their leadership and well-respected advocacy on behalf of our clients, our firm has grown to include attorneys Stephen Curtice and James Montalbano, who bolster our firm’s quality representation and provide adept legal knowledge and writing skills.
Shane Youtz, Partner
Shane Youtz received a B.A., with Honors, from the University of Wyoming in 1988 and a J.D. from the University of Minnesota in 1991. Specializing in representing workers individually and through their unions, Shane has litigated claims on behalf of workers and unions against some of the largest corporations in the world, represents Unions in both the public and private sector, and his verdicts in wage-and-hour cases over the last twenty years have been widely reported in such media outlets as the New York Times, Washington Post, CBS Evening News, and NPR, among others. He has litigated cases in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Iowa, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas and Utah. Shane is admitted to practice before State Bar of California, the State Bar of New Mexico, California Federal District Courts and the 9th Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, New Mexico Federal District Court and 10th Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, Texas Federal District Court for the Northern District of Texas, and the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. He is a member of the New Mexico Trial Lawyers Foundation and the AFL-CIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee.
Gabrielle Valdez, Partner
Gabrielle Valdez received both her bachelor and law degrees from the University of New Mexico, where she graduated with Honors and served on the University of New Mexico Moot Court Team and as the Administrative Editor of the Natural Resources Journal. She was admitted to the New Mexico Bar in 1994 and is licensed to practice in both the state and federal courts in New Mexico. In addition to her civil litigation practice, which focuses primarily on personal injury, wrongful death, and insurance bad faith cases, Gabrielle has been appointed by her peers and judges in New Mexico to act as a Guardian ad Litem in well over 600 cases throughout the State. Gabrielle is the former President of the New Mexico Trial Lawyers Association, as well as the current Editor of the Verdicts and Settlement column of the New Mexico Trial Lawyer Journal. She is also a member of the American Association for Justice (AAJ) and has been appointed as the minority delegate for New Mexico for AAJ (formerly ATLA). Gabrielle has previously been appointed to the United States District Court Rules Committee, and the Judicial Selection Committee for the District Courts, and served as chief bill analyst and counsel for the New Mexico Senate Pro Tem in the State Legislature.
Stephen Curtice, Associate
Stephen Curtice graduated first in his class from the UNM School of Law in 2001, Order of the Coif, summa cum laude. Stephen has clerked for two different Justices on the New Mexico Supreme Court—Justice Minzner (2001-2002) and Justice Chavez (2003-2004). He also spent a year in D.C. working for the NLRB’s Appellate Court Branch (2002-2003), before missing New Mexico and returning. In New Mexico, he has worked for Youtz & Valdez, P.C. (2004-2006; 2012-present). There, his practice focuses primarily on union-side labor law, both in the private and public sectors, wage and hour litigation under the FLSA, the New Mexico Minimum Wage Act and the Public Works Minimum Wage Act, and plaintiff-side individual employment law matters. Stephen is admitted to practice before the New Mexico Supreme Court, the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico, and the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit. He is also a member of the AFL-CIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee and the Labor and Employment Law section of the New Mexico State Bar, where he served as Chair of the section in 2015.
James Montalbano, Associate
Following a career in journalism, James Montalbano graduated, cum laude, from the University of New Mexico School of Law in 2011. During law school he served as a tutor to first-year law students and held internships with the United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 1564, the firm of McGinn, Carpenter, Montoya & Love, and with Youtz & Valdez, P.C. After law school he clerked on the New Mexico Court of Appeals with the Hon. Celia Foy Castillo and the Hon. Monica Zamora. In May 2013 he was hired as an associate with Youtz & Valdez. His work includes FLSA and state minimum-wage actions, representation of unions in negotiations and before local labor boards, and the drafting of appellate briefs. James holds a bachelor’s degree in both English and U.S. History from the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is admitted to practice before the New Mexico Supreme Court, the United States District Court of the District of New Mexico, and the Circuit Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, and is a member of the Labor and Employment Law section of the New Mexico State Bar and the AFL-CIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee.
Allison Keelin, Office Manager
A native of Albuquerque, Allison Keelin grew up in the north valley and graduated Salutatorian from Valley High School. She was awarded a Chancellor’s scholarship to Texas Christian University, where she graduated with a B.A. in Political Science in 2001, with Honors, magna cum laude. After continuing her studies in graduate school at the University of New Mexico, Allison joined Youtz & Valdez in 2004 as Office Manager and paralegal to Shane Youtz and has been with the firm ever since. In addition to her duties as Office Manager, Allison serves as the senior paralegal for all of the firm’s labor and wage-and-hour cases.
